THORNDON TO WAIKANAE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 7922, 3 November 1886, Page 2

THORNDON TO WAIKANAE.

A CHAPTER IN HISTORY.

The travellers to.dsy from Wellington to Waikanae will have a most enjoyable trip through a country entirely now to most of them —a country abounding In beautiful scenery and rich in bistorts events, One strange difference crista between traveller* in Europe and those in! this Colony, Xhe former artf eager nOt only ttf SCO tuO sight* along their way; but alto to learn thsir hi*'* torioal associations.' In New Zealand peopli are apt to think entirely of the scenery and altogether' to ignore the' history. New Zeiland, young as it is, has' a history, and it is a thousand pities that people should aq reao. lutely ignore it. Take, for instance, this very route. How few of those .who Journey thither to-day have any knowledge of the many interesting points, or could tell anything about the events which happened at each. Yet every stream has its history, and every peak and fertile plain some connection with the past history of the Colony.

Of coarse almost all these events are con. nected with the Maoris alone or in their their dealings with tbs early colonists. Abont the earliest date, when tbs tens history of the district can really be said to dawn, was the night in 1840, when Mr McKenzie, now a worthy and much re. spected Councillor of Wellington, camp A and spent the tirst night ever spent by a white man on the Thorudon Flat, Almost all before that was in the dark ages. All Thorudon Flat wag bush, and scrub lined the bank where Hobson-street gardens now look down upon the Manawata Company’s reclamation, Maoris abounded in the dm. trict. There were Maori plantations high up Tinakori-road, and a pah where Cattle, ville-terrace joins Tinakori-road ; another at the site of Mr Izard’s house, and a third at the bottom of Hobson-street. In the capital pictures by Mr Bree of Wellington in its early days is one depicting a number of naked Maoris dragging a canoe to the sea down Hawkestone-street, which they had cat from a tree from the forest at the top of that now cement-paved, gas-lighted road. The Maoris, crossing the island from Forirua to the west, called Wellington Harbor Whanganni-a-te-ra, meaning the great expanse to the east. They believed that the great god Maui, who is worshipped more or less by the whole Polynesian race, tished the North Island out of the sea, and their name for it was Te Ika o Maui—the fish of Man'. The Tararua and Ruahine ranges, forming tho backbone of the island, were said by the Maoris to be the backbone of .the big fish caught by Maui. The part north of Auckland was its tail, and Taranaki and Cook County the fins. Wait&rapa Hake was she fresh water eye, and Wellington Harbor the salt water eye of this wonderful sea monster. MAORI HISTORY. All round Wellington Harbor about the year 1810 were a number of small Maori pahs, and from the moment the train starts from Thorn, don till it reaches Waikanae the traveller will get fresh views of places of historical interest. For instance, away to the right is tbs modern village of Ksiwarra, where formerly a Maori pah stood, and two miles farther on is Ngahauranga. This was a larger pah, in which dwelt a hapu that had not long before come down on a marauding expedition from North Tara* naki. This was the hapu of the now famous Te Whiti. Hero he lived as a child. His father, Waripori, was the chief rangatira of the tribe; a man of great stature, and equally great strength and great courage. One afternoon an English sailor came trudging along the beach road from Fetone to Wellington. The Ngahauranga stream was breast high in flood, and Waripori demanded toll from the Englishman ere he allowed him to cross the brook. Naturally, the white man refused. High words soon followed. The > Maori was huge and strong, and a noted warrior; but the Englishman was not to be bounced. Words changed to blows, and hot and strong was the death struggle as they wrestled and struck. After a fierce fight the Maori warrior gave in. Both men were much damaged; but so badly was the Maori hurt, so severe his internal injuries, that he quickly died—within a week of the gallant fight. At the back of the second hotel at Ngahauranga is still to be seen half of a canoe stuck upright in the ground, in memory of the gallant chief. His name will live in the annals of the city of Wellington as long as “Waripori ’’-street endures, flia brave rival shifted to other lands; bis name, too, might worthily be affixed to some street.

The drat tunnel on the line rnns through the property of the late Mr W, B. Rhodes, who first same' to the Colony in 1835, in command of a barque called the Eleanor, trading ont of Sydney, Mr Rhodes claimed to have bought all the laud from Fort Nicholson to Ahuriri, and from Wairoa Kiver to Table Cape, for £l6O worth of beads, blankets, &c. This huge claim proved valueless. He used to buy land anywhere along the shores of New Zealand from the Maoris, and after each bargain was done would take off his hat and reverently exclaim, "1 take possession of this land in the name of God, and Smith and Jones, wholesale merchants, Sydney." The first station reached ia‘ Crofton, erst, while residence of Sir William For, a Premier of the Colony, and the site of a large and noted private school kept by the Rev Woodford St. Hill, now rector of Hast* ings, in Hawkes Bay. A few chains farther on is a 100-nore paddock, one of Colonel McLeverty’s reserves. ' It was at one time meant to be a Government domain. A little farther on are the remains of an orchard and garden planted by Sir Charles Clifford. All along the line to the right is the Old Forirna-road, the first important road made in the district, at great cost, by the'New Zeeland Company, to the Johnson villa and Forirna settlements, poEibua, The land from Porirua to Wellington har. bor was all dense bnsh, and no Natives lived along the line now traversed by the railway. A few dwelt at Makara, and had a track to a hamlet at Uhariu, and thence to Forirna, The last place has for many generations been the haunt of Maoris, and about 1840 they were very numerous, and had pahs there, and at Fahantanni and Horoki. wi, and at Flimmerton. Ngatitoa possessed all the land on both sides of the bay, and a colony settled at Mona, on the residence of the great chief Rangihaeata, son-in-law of Te Rauparaha. ' One of the earliest land courts ever held in the Colpny waa held at Forirna under Mr Commissmner Spain. In 1843 it was feared that the Maori hordes would sweep down from Forirna and destroy the town of Wellington. The railway traveller of to-day will ask in vain: “Where is the great pah? ’> And half a dozen dawdling Maoris at the station will represent the armed warriors that have passed away. Mr Spain rode over wretched tracks, amid tangled woods, to meet Te Rauparaha at Waikanae, to save Wellington from the horrors of a threatened massacre. In Sep. tember, 1844, Wellington feared an attack from tribes gathering at Perirna, and again in 1846. Many of those'who visit Forirna on this festive occasion will remember vividly those anxious times. Most interest* ing must be their thoughts when, gazing ont of the windows at Forirna, and seeing a handful of Natives loitering about, recollecting the big city they left half an hour ago—they begin to contrast past and present. How vast the gap between then and now ! Many of these travellers in bygone years bore arms and did military duty against the Maoris. Among those were such well-known names as Fhmmer, G. Allen, J. Johnston, J. Martin, Fharazyn, Mantell, J. H. Wallace, Sutherland, and a host beside, many of whom still look hale and hearty. For many years troops were stationed all around the bay, at Forirna, at Paramata (the haunt of whalers), and Fahantaqni; at Fort Elliot and other stockades, under Majors Doric, Last, and Edwards, and other officers, as Robertson, Servantea, and Blackburn. When Sir George Grey was Governor, in 1846, Kanparahs, though 77 years of age, was as yonngand freehand vigorous as Mr Gladstone, and kept the district in a state of turmoil and anxiety. Sir George, therefore, despatched a corps of 150 strong to Forirna, and they canght the old chieftain asleep in his whare near the new Flimmerton station. This event happened exactly 40 years ago. The Maoris afterward assembled in the Horokiwi under their fighting leader Rangi* haeata, who had left bis stockade at Pahantannl; and in the heantifni' wooded valley of the Horokiwi was fought a battle. A few Maoris were killed, and, after a brisk fight, they were driven back. That was the last struggle made by the Maoris south of Manawatu. The Europeans consisted of several hundred soldiers and seamen from the Calliope, led by Major Last. Between Forirna village and the sea is a neck of land, and near its end are 200 acres of land, set apart by Bishop Selwyn, on which to place a future Trinity College, to promote the Christian religion among both races. It may interest visitors to look out for the epire* and gables of this great college! Farther west is Mana, called Table Island by Captain Cook, now owned an a sheep run by Mr J. F. E. Wright, of Wellington. Leaving Plimmertoa, and on the left of the site of Te Rauparaha’s vanished pah, the train ascends to the old Maori gardens and village at Pnkerna. From this height is aeon the striking isle of Kapiti or Entry Island, and the beginning of the long, level plain and sand dunes reaching from Faikakariki, at the foot of Pnkerna, and thence to Mauawatu right along the coast :.s far as CapcEgmont. In the neat distance

i 8 Waikanae, and 'farther. on Otaki and Horowhenua—all famoue xilaces m Maori history. kapiti. , Kapiti was once a pentro ot Rakaha civilization some years before city was fpuuded,, ,It t waa a K r ® at . , •goas for whales,'and on tho Waikanae . under the iea of its high wooded ranges by many a fine whaling ship. °f" T“ Be ‘! came down with provisions and stores sent by Sydney traders m the years 18. Occasionally as many as a dozen ships were dhohprld i/tbe offing together, . w^ en ' T^ its ihany shoals oaqao oruiamg through book Straits. Kapiti ,if as birth-place oi m.- •—fnl and prothe whale fisheries were sacoo—. f}table, but gradually the ranks of tho whales were so thinned, and the animals themselves became so frightened, that thoy ; almost quitted those shores, and whaling as a trade stopped many yeara ago, Bren now, howover, there are old whalers living at Waikanae and Otaki, left stranded, relies of a by-gono age, bnt still willing to tell again the story of their exciting whale hunts. At the sonth end was a big pah, and another in the north, whilst in the middle was the pah of Te Eauparaha; thence his fleet of canoes could easily carry his eager warriors to attack almost any part of the coast. Ho had living round him a large number of Maoris, but the island is now almost deserted by them. It is rented by Mr Henry Field, o£ Waikanae, and is used as a sheep and cattle run by that gentleman, and before him in tarn by Bell, by Petersen, and'by Brown. It was to Kapiti that Colonel Wakefield went in 1839 to negotiate with thfrastute chief Te Eauparaha, who, because of his wily tricks, was called by the whalers “Satan,” or “ Old Sarpent.’ High up amid its wild steep ranges on the west is a scarcely accessible cove, strewn with skeletons of old Maoris—ouco tho saofed lone burying-piaoe of their chiefs, Te Eauparaha himself came from Ivawhio, and conquered the tribes living on Kapiti in the early years of this century. He overran the country from Paikokoriki to Mauawatu, and hunted and cruelly treated and butchered as many old inhabitants as he could catch. WAIKANAE. Waikanae was a largo and fortified pab, and the chief stronghold of the Ngatiawa, and in October, 1839, a bloody battle was fought at this spot, when Ngatiawa fought Ngatiraukawa, and slow many of them—a battle eagerly watched by Ngatitoa under tho command of To Eauparaha. When Colonial Wakefield visited Waikanae at the end of October, he found Ngatiawa wanted “nothing but firearms,” a wish, surrounded as they wore on all sides by deadly foes. Colonel Wakefield soon after this assembled some chiefs and bought all Wellington district, and Taranaki, for a few guns, pairs of scissors, 2 dozen combs, 2 pounds of gaudily colored glass beads and a few other sundries, and for this paltry sum it was asserted was bought outright, Walrarapa, Otaki, Wellington and Hutt, Manawatu, Eangitikei, Wanganui, Patea, Hawera, Taranaki. This quaint pur. chase was an improvement -on the older plan of pointing to one cloud and then another, and then buying all the land between these over-shifting hazy boundaries. Buying "from cloud to aloud ” Was a splendid way

o£ making work for lawyers. In 1839 a Mr Hadfield, who had left Eng* land on account of ill-health, arrived at Waikanaa, and for many years lived there and at Otaki. A few yaata later Bishop Selwyn, on one of his long tours through the land, called at Waikanae, and waa (pleased to find that the Bov Mr Hadfield waa still alive and doing good work —though for the past four years his friends had daily expected to hear of his death. That dying man is to-day the spare bat active Bishop of Wellington. Waikanao .River was the port of departure for canoes visiting Kapiti, and for many years waa a very important point in Maori history. Governor Fitsroy visited (the chiefs at Waikanae, and later Sir George Grey wished to buy it 5 but the Maoris refused. The original pah was nearer the mouth of the river than the present one. Maori legend says that a man named Han sought his wife, Who had eloped, and travelled all down the coast in his search. When he came to this place he “ looked out of the corner of his eye ” and called it Waikanae—expecting there to find the lady and her lover. Between Waikanae and Kapiti, but nearer the latter, are two or three islets, one known as Evan’s Isle, where a man of that name had a house and store, and supplied grog to whalers, i 1 ruin Waikanae an old Maori track leads to the Upper Hutt through a considerable extent of fiue country, DISAPPEARANCE OP THE MAORIS. A sad feature running all through the history of the Maoris during the last 50 years is their rapid decay—the awful rate at which, year after year, they die and ate not replaced. Forty-live years ago, Major Heaphy records that there were Maoris living at both ends of Hobson-street and at Lambton-qnay, where Messrs Harcourt and Co.’s warehouse stands.. About 100 Maoris lived at these places; now there is one family at Pipitsa Point, The pahs at Kaiwarra, Ngahauranga, Makara, and Ohariu have long since vanished. Hundreds of Maoris swarmed all round the jagged coast-lines of Porirua Bay, and dwelt in fortified pahs at Porirua nnd'Pahautanui. About 20 years ago 300 Maoris dwelt at Porirua ; to-day there are about 40 at Porirna, and none at Pahantanui. At Waikanae, some 45 years ago, there were 500 fighting men, beside women and children j five years ago the census showed 20 —all that was left of them. To-day, travellers can see for themselvss how this pah has shrunk. At Ohariu Bay, at Mana, Kapiti, and Paikakariki there were Maoris—bat all are gone ! It is a sad history ; and the outlook for the race is no brighter.